Talking Books with K.C. Hardy, authors of ONE WAY TICKET HOME

Kristie Hardy, whose life is the inspiration behind this book, holds a B.S. in Education, a minor in English, and is a former teacher.  But her most recent profession as a private investigator spawned a desire to unearth the long-suppressed details of her own personal story.  She is a mother of two, and a thirty year metastatic breast cancer survivor. Kristie currently resides in San Antonio, Texas with her husband.

Cate Hardy, Kristie’s daughter and co-author, is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin.  Cate lives in San Antonio, Texas with the loves of her life: her husband and two children. 

Kristie and Cate are the mother/daughter writing team of K.C. Hardy. Their latest book is the Christian inspirational fiction, One-Way Ticket Home.

For More Information

• Visit K.C. Hardy’s website.
• Connect with K.C. on Facebook and Twitter.

Title: One-Way Ticket Home
Author: K.C. Hardy
Publisher: Casbury Lane Press
Pages: 262
Genre: Christian Inspirational Fiction

Days before boarding the plane to Italy for her daughter’s wedding, Julie Whitaker receives an unexpected phone call from her past. The memory of Mark Jennings, a handsome and charming Top Gun pilot, had haunted her for decades. Their fairy tale wedding was everything she’d ever dreamed of, but it quickly turned into her worst nightmare.

Starting a new a life without Mark proved to be much harder than Julie had imagined. But in her darkest hour, God revealed Himself in a miraculous way, giving her the strength she needed not only to battle depression, but to face a diagnosis of breast cancer that threatened to cut her life short.

Now, amidst the splendor of the Italian Alps, on the eve of her daughter’s wedding, Julie’s thoughts are catapulted back to Mark and the reason for his call.  After thirty years, will Julie have a chance to see him once again? And would she even want to?

Based on true events, One-Way Ticket Home will take you on an unforgettable journey of love, loss, hope and forgiveness. With grace, candor and an indomitable wit, K.C. Hardy reminds us that it is often in our darkest hours, that the strength of the human spirit shines the brightest.

For More Information

• One-Way Ticket Home is available at Amazon.
• Discuss this book at PUYB Virtual Book Club at Goodreads.

Thank you for this interview!  I’d like to know more about you as a person first.  What do you do when you’re not writing? 

First of all, thank you for having us!  When we are not writing, we are busy designing invitations for our stationery store,  or cuddling up with a good book and sometimes a frappe or a good glass of wine. We also love taking annual road trips across this beautiful country of ours, checking places off our bucket list along the way.

When did you start writing?

Oh goodness...that’s a great question.  We started writing One-Way Ticket Home about eight years ago, which happens to be the year I found out I was pregnant with my second child.  All those hours spent writing during my son’s nap times were well worth the sacrifice.  We had numerous starts and stops along the way, and an occasional detour.  But like our road trips, enjoying the journey is often times just as rewarding as the destination.

As a published author, what would you say was the most pivotal point of your writing life?

 I think both of us can agree that the most pivotal and distressing point in our journey was realizing that in order for the book to reach it’s full potential, we were going to have to do a complete about-face and start over.  Dumping complete chapters and months of writing in the trash can be a little disconcerting, but we wouldn’t let it deter us.  And now that we have finished, we realize it was not a step back but a step forward.  When you’re smack dab in the middle of it however, all you want to do is cry.

If you could go anywhere in the world to start writing your next book, where would that be and why?

We love to be able to one day go to Ireland.  And specifically the Cliffs of Moher near the village of Kilcolgan.  What fun that would be!

If you had 4 hours of extra time today, what would you do? 

 Oooh...another great question.  Probably grab a big juicy hamburger at Longhorn Cafe (both of us are supposed to watch our cholesterol which makes it even more tempting :) and take in a movie.

Where would you like to set a story that you haven’t done yet? 

Ireland or Alaska.  Both seem so enchanting and exotic (and cooler...much, much cooler). 

Back to your present book, One-Way Ticket Home, how did you publish it?   

After almost being picked up by a couple of big traditional publishers, we decided to maintain more control over our book and self-publish.  Staying true to the authenticity of the story was very important to us.

In writing your book, did you travel anywhere for research?   

Although we have never been to Varenna, Italy, we spoke with people who have been there and did extensive research.

Why was writing One-Way Ticket Home  so important to you? 

I wanted to share with other women how God brought me through and healed me of breast cancer - not once, but  twice. If my struggles and pain could help someone else realize just how much the Lord truly loves them, how His word does not return void and that He  desires to heal us, then it was all worthwhile.  Also, when I was volunteering with Reach to Recovery with the American Cancer Society after my mastectomy, I realized that many women who suffer from ‘female’ cancers, such as breast and ovarian have been in abusive relationships of some kind. The knowledge of  how destructive abuse is to our bodies and realizing how important it is to stop the cycle of abuse, can perhaps one day save a life.

Where do you get your best ideas and why do you think that is? 

The expression ‘life happens’ best explains where the ideas for this book came from. Pretty much every idea came from my life's experiences as well as my younger daughter’s dream destination wedding to Italy.

 Any final words? 

We hope you laugh, cry, shake your head in amazement and have several aw ha moments while reading our book. We hope you find words that bring encouragement and inspiration to your soul. In short, we hope that you enjoy reading One Way Ticket Home as much as we enjoyed writing it.